


Girl's Night Out

by akire_yta



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 08:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 14,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9225869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: When the brothers are taken, it's up to women of International Rescue (and their friends) to save the day





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I needed more of the ladies in my life.
> 
> Written under challenge (one chapter a day for 13 days) unfortunately unbeta-read, copied directly from tumblr.

An EMP big enough to throw Global One into darkness was a pretty big deal.

Captain O’Bannon had a good crew, quick enough to throw the breakers when they realized something was wrong, and her station was new enough to have the latest surge protection.

Critical systems came back online in a matter of minutes, and step by step her station came back to life.

The comms burst open, all space lanes alive with the chatter of what had just hit; smaller shuttles calling for help from the bigger, better protected cruisers, the luxury resorts struggling to keep life support systems going with their off-the-shelf, under-shielded components, everyone trying to raise everyone else to figure out how bad the storm had been.

Ridley frowned as she realized what note was missing from the symphony.  “Thunderbird Five, this is Global One, are you there?”

There was no response.

“John, come in please.”  The silence cracked in her earpiece.

She thought a moment, then opened the channel John had made her swear to only use in emergency.  She figured this counted.  “Tracy Island, this is Captain O’Bannon.  Are you receiving me?”

She felt her heart clench as the seconds ticked by with no reply.

Her crew needed her first, but her crew were the best.  Twenty minutes later, Ridley handed over to Captain Sheng, who had arrived only the day before to relieve her of her rotation at the end of the week.  Two minutes after that, she was on the small shuttle, heading up to Five’s last known location.

The airlock was depressurized, and Ridley paused, weighing her options.  Airlock’s were only depressurized in use, the safety benefits of an oxygenated compartment outweighing both the cost and the risk.  John was a stickler for protocol, and she’d always had to cycle through on every other visit.

Five was dark, and Ridley was reminded of another ghost ship, another time.

As she stepped aboard, the lights flickered up, one after the other, glowing breadcrumbs in the night.  As Ridley looked down the length of the station, the far airlock opened.

Ridley hoped to see a familiar figure coming to greet her, sheepish after the radio silent treatment, perhaps, or more worryingly but still acceptable, in need of her help.  Instead, on a whir of servos, a small camera flew up the tracks towards her.  “Eos?” Ridley asked.  “What happened?”

Eos’ lights were flashing, a cacophony of colour.  “I was knocked offline, which should not be possible with any standard or projected solar flare.  I only rebooted five thousand and forty-nine milliseconds ago,” she said, crisp and precise, her voice echoing strangely in the empty space.

“Where’s John?”

Eos’ voice was heartbreaking in its simplicity.  “I do not know.”

Ridley took a moment to breathe, her throat working as she tried to swallow.  “Okay.  So someone has vanished from an orbiting locked room, there’s a lot of people out there who need help, and we’ve all just had the snot knocked out of us by an EMP of unknown origins and unprecedented power,” she summarized, working through her own mental checklist.  Grabbing a nearby handrail, she began to sail towards the far airlock, trusting that Eos would follow.  The camera that was the physical presence of the AI always hounded her around the main part of the station on all her prior visits.  “Let’s call his brothers and see what they know. There’s ships out there in need of aid, and they’ll be expecting to hear Thunderbird Five take charge.”  Ridley span around, facing back towards Eos even as her momentum carried her into the station proper.  “Think you can help me with that?”

A single orbit of white lights span around and vanished.  “Yes, Captain O’Bannon.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eos was a miracle

Eos was a miracle.

Ridley was secretly a little in awe, both of the AI, and of the human-machine partnership that ran the small station.  Even without John there, Eos still connected the dots, set up rescuers with rescuees in a seamless, flawless, recovery plan.  “All mayday signals and calls for aid have been addressed,” she summarized, the glowing sphere in front of Ridley showing a web of green help tying the red spots of trouble together.

“Thanks, Eos.  Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Her tone was arch.  “You would not have made it through the airlock without me.”

Ridley winced, but didn’t rise to the bait.  “Any luck raising any of John’s brothers?”

“Negative,” Eos said.  “The EMP has both knocked several critical surveillance satellites out of orbit and ionized the upper atmosphere, making it difficult to establish alternative communication routes,” she added.  “However, such a scenario was planned for, and should not be causing this much difficulty.  We have also missed a scheduled check in, they should have tried to establish communications by now.”

Ridley pushed back from the console and began looking around for options.  “So what you’re saying is that something smells fishy?”

Eos followed her as she moved slowly around the ring.  “I do not have a sense of smell, but I believe you metaphor correct.”

“Noted,” Ridley said, coming to rest against the curved glass.  It felt cool against her forehead as he thoughts continued to dart around, feeling the shape of the pieces she had and the pieces she was missing.  “Eos, how does John get up and down?”

There was a long pause, pregnant and watchful.

Ridley sighed, and held up two fingers, a Scout’s salute.  “I solemnly swear I will not reveal your secrets, even to the GDF.  But if there’s a back door out of this place, I need to know.”

She stared down the unblinking black lens.  “The mooring claw,” Eos admitted finally.  “Also functions as a space elevator.”

Ridley blinked.  “Well goddamn that sneaky minx,” she muttered to herself.  “You guys really got a space elevator working?”

A flash of golden yellow lights, one quarter of the circumference of her ring.  “I did say he was mad to trust himself to such a slender line, but he believes it safe.”

Ridley craned her neck against the glass, trying to find the right angle to get a visual.  “And I’m going to assume that that was the first place you checked.”

This time the flash was red.  “You assume correctly.  Any and all means of leaving the station under his own power have been accounted for.”

Ridley reached for her helmet.  “I know home base is this big secret, and I know you’d be dumber than I’d ever credit you for if you loaded the coordinates onto my GDF shuttle, but what about this space elevator?  If I hopped aboard, could you unwind me down to the base?”

This time, Eos did her the courtesy of moving on her rails in a slow loop around Ridley to show she was considering the request.  Finally, she came to a stop before the hatch up to the central mass of the station.  “Please follow me.  And since I do not have the means to blindfold you, I may require you to close your eyes at certain points in the journey.”

Ridley reached for a handhold.  “Eos?” she asked.  “Was that a joke?”

“Perhaps,” Eos said brightly.  “This way, Captain.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kayo came out with her fists raised

Kayo came out with her fists raised and ready.  Whatever had knocked out their generators and backup batteries had also fried the comms.

Also the elevators.  And it was a long, long climb from Shadow’s hangar to the main levels.

The main building was quiet, when normally she’d expect to hear voices, especially after a blackout on an Island that should be immune to such things.  She knew that One or Three hadn’t launched; their huge engines tended to shake the island to the bedrock, if you knew how to feel for the tiny tremors their launches caused.  And Kayo’s exit upwards had taken her over Two, and despite her shouts, no-one had been there to answer.

She stepped on silent feet out onto the cool flagstones of the kitchen level, and paused to pocket a small bottle of water and one of Virgil’s protein bars.  Some deep instinct told her to be prepared for anything.  

There were no weapons here, Scott forbidding them in the family areas despite Kayo’s best arguments.  So Kayo also helped herself to a steak knife before she continued upwards to the final, main level.

The living area was silent, the comms dead and the overhead lights dark.  Only the sun, mostly sunk behind the horizon now, was throwing reddish light into the room in a way that cast long shadows.

“Hello?” Kayo tried, one hand wrapped around the grip of the knife.  “Anyone up here?”

She spun at the noise, relaxing as Max peeked around the corner in a gentle whir of servos and motors.  “Max!” Kayo breathed, feeling more reassured than she’d ever admit.  She dropped to one knee as Max rolled over to her like a scared puppy.  “Where’s Brains?”

“He’s not here.”  Kayo stood quickly as Grandma Tracy stepped cautiously down the stairs, both hands gripping the rail.  “Whatever that was, it took him along with the boys.”

Kayo felt ice down her spine.  “They were taken?”

Grandma looked rattled, pale and tense.  “I think so, I only…” she froze, both their heads tilted upwards as they heard the unmistakable sound of one of the silo hatches opening.  “A launch?” Grandma asked, stepping closer.

Kayo moved, craning her neck to see up through the curved glass of the living area.  “No,” she breathed, her eyes watering as she tried to focus on the tiny dot dropping down towards them.  “An arrival.”

Max led the charge, the descent back down to the hangars made effortless after he rolled up to the elevator controls and made something spark and fizz behind the panel.  “If anyone asks,” Grandma told the bot, patting his carapace.  “We found it like that, okay Max?”

Max whirred and bobbed in agreement, hanging back in the elevator between Grandma and the door as Kayo waved at them to stay put.  Knife in hand, she began to edge along the gantry towards where the space elevator’s mooring claw was getting a firm grip on the anchor point.

There was no cover here, no chance of ambush.  Just a straight line between her and the occupant.

Kayo hoped it was John.

The door opened in a hiss of balancing pressures.  Kayo tightened her grip on her knife, steadied her stance.

The figure inside had shed her helmet, and she smiled at Kayo hopefully.  “Hello, I’m Captain O’Bannon.  I’m guessing you’re Kayo?”

Kayo nodded, acknowledging her but giving nothing away in return.

O’Bannon’s eyes flicked to the knife in Kayo’s hand, but her smile never faltered.  “Something or someone took John.  I thought you might be able to help.”

Kayo didn’t so much as twitch.  “How do I know it wasn’t you?”

“Wait,” a voice said behind Kayo.  “O’Bannon?”  Kayo moved on instinct, keeping herself between Grandma and the newcomer.  “Ridley?”

O’Bannon nodded, glancing between the two women facing her.  “That’s me.”

Grandma’s hand was warm and steady on Kayo’s shoulders.  “Relax,” she whispered, just for Kayo’s ears before she spoke aloud once more.  “John’s told me all about you,” she added.

Kayo wasn’t the only one to see O’Bannon’s eyebrow rise slightly.  “Oh really?  I’d ask for details, but we’ve got more pressing matters, like a missing astronaut.”

Kayo dropped the knife back into her pocket.  “Like five missing Thunderbirds,” she corrected.  “Also our engineer.”

“Well, crap,” O’Bannon said easily.  “Hang on…” she leaned back into the pod.  “Eos, you still with us.”

Her voice came not from the pod, but from the sound system built into the walls of the hangar itself.  “Yes, Captain O’Bannon.  I am currently re-routing systems, I will meet you upstairs.”

For the first time in her life, Kayo was glad to hear Eos’ voice.  She half turned, gesturing for O’Bannon to follow Grandma.  “After you?”

O’Bannon nodded, smiling easily.  “Let’s go.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny's holiday was over

They’d been having troubles with the generator all day.

Penny took off her sunhat and wiped her brow with the back of her hand, an un-Ladylike gesture that would be out of place anywhere but here.

Around her, the solemn sands stretched far away.

The dig was deep enough into the tunnels that they needed the generators for lights and the air blowers, for the safety gear and the computers that were now an archaeologist’s stock in trade as much as their trowels.

Penny walked across the hard-packed sand towards the nearest tent, seeking shade and something to drink.  This deep into the desert, the sun was merciless, sucking moisture out of every pore.

“Excuse me, Lady Penelope?”  she half-turned, smiling professionally at the young student jogging over to her.  In her hands was Penny’s knapsack.  “Your bag’s been, um, beeping, on and off for the last ten minutes.  The boss thought you might want to know.”

This was her holiday, a few blessed days without spycraft and danger.  She had left Parker with strict instructions that she was not to be disturbed for anything short of the end of the world.  “Well, that’s distressing.  Thank you,” she added warmly, taking her bag from the young student.

As she continued on towards the mess tent, nearly empty at this time of day, her compact, buried deep in her bag, started chiming again.

Penny dug it out, noting the dozen missed calls as she flipped it open.  “Grandma Tracy,” she greeted the figure that materialized, her admonition dying on her lips.

Grandma almost slumped, hand on her heart.  “Oh thank goodness, you’re okay,” she began, and Penny felt her blood run cold.

“Whyever wouldn’t I be?”

Even in the tiny hologram, Grandma’s eyes were dark and deep.  “The boys have been taken.”

Penny stood, already running a mental checklist.  Her car was tucked away in the vehicle tent, she could be airborne in five.  “What do you need me to do?” she asked.  “I could be at the island in an hour.”

Grandma nodded.  “Make it less if you can.”

Penny snapped her compact shut and started running.

 * * *

Ridley walked slowly around the edge of the large room, taking in the portraits on the walls for a moment before moving on to look out over the dark ocean.  It was night now, but with power restored, Ridley could see a full sized pool out on the deck below her.

It was beautiful, and relaxing and yet, even as a newcomer, Ridley could sense that something was badly off-kilter here.  It reminded her of that scene in the horror movies she watched as a teenager, that uncanny moment just before blood was split.

She remembered she never much liked those movies.

“Captain O’Bannon?”

She turned and walked over to the ring of sofas arranged around the holocomm, the twin of the one up in John’s Thunderbird.  “I think, given today, you can call me Ridley,” she said.

Kayo held out a folded pile of clothes.  “These should fit you,” she said.

It felt strange to be back in civvies, as it always did after months in her suit.  As she came back out into the main level, she could see the glow of the holo, and the figure it projected.  She winced, but stepped into the field of the camera.

Colonel Casey wasn’t in her direct line of command, but she had a fearsome reputation in the GDF.  Ridley saluted smartly.

“Captain O’Bannon,” Casey acknowledged in her drawl.  “I see you’ve found Neverland.”

“Ma’am,” Ridley said.  It seemed safest.

Casey seemed amused.  “Ruth’s brought me up to speed.  I’ve alerted your Command, and you’ve been seconded under my authority, Captain.”

Ridley felt her shoulders pull back into parade attention automatically.  “Ma’am?”

Casey nodded.  “Captain O’Bannon, I order you to render all aid and assistance to International Rescue.  The full resources of the GDF are at your disposal.”  She smiled warmly.  “Go find those boys.  Ruth and I will keep an eye on the world.”  Ridley saluted smartly as the holo faded.  

“You heard the Colonel.”  John’s grandmother’s voice was rough but comforting, like cider and blankets in the fall.  “We’ve got the rescue calls covered…”  she turned at the noise of engines from outside.

On the deck beyond the windows, a pink flying _car_  was coming into land. 

Kayo appeared from the far entry, dressed in a slim uniform that reminded Ridley, slightly, of John’s.  Kayo looked Ridley over.  “Better,” she said.  “Come on, let’s get Lady Penelope up to speed.”

Lady Penelope was climbing out of the car as Kayo and Ridley stepped out of the house.  She greeted them both with a warm smile.  “Hello,” he greeted them.  “Now tell me what you know?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no sign of a struggle

The fact that their adversary had managed to grab all the boys at once was what was worrying Penny the most.

“No signs of struggle,” she noted, straightening up.  They were in Brains’ workshop, the last place any of them had been seen on the Island.  “Not so much as a spilled teacup.”

“And that is terrifying on oh so many levels.”  Penny had already warmed to Captain O’Bannon, and she turned as Ridley pushed up off the wall she had been leaning against.  “The fact they could snatch an astronaut out of orbit makes the rest of this-” and she waved around the hangar.  “A secondary problem.”

Kayo made a noise under her breath that may have been a curse.  “One hell of a secondary problem.”

Ridley shrugged.  “Purely from a technical perspective, I mean.”  She frowned, thinking.  “Technical…I know the blackout hit you just as badly here, but did it knock out all the sensors?”

“All systems were compromised.”  All three women automatically tracked their gaze over to the nearest speaker, instinctively turning to the source of the voice.  Eos’ tone was prim and precise.  “However, I have managed to reconstruct three seconds of footage off the system buffer.”

Without being asked, she projected the scene as a loop through the small Litetype Brains kept on his mobile desk.  Penny and Kayo leaned in, heads almost touching as they studied the scene.

“Is that a…ship?” Penny asked eventually, moving around the image to try and find a perspective that made sense.

“If it is, it is tiny,” Kayo added, searching for any detail, any clue.

“May I see?”  Ridley had hung back, but some vague memory was chiming in her head.  “I think I’ve seen that shape before.  Yes,” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers as the memory dropped into place.  “One of the GDF contractors presented something like this when we were upgrading our survival and emergency systems.”  She straightened from where she had bent over the image, arms folded across her ribs.  “They didn’t get the bid.”

Penny nodded firmly.  “Eos, can you…”

“Already done,” Eos said smugly.  “The presenting contractor of record was Heidrich Industries, based in Munich, Germany.”

Penny nodded, a plan already forming.  “Looks like we’re going to Germany.”

Kayo nodded agreement.  “Good cop bad cop, or…”

Penny shook her head.  “Clueless investigator and shadow?” she counter-offered. Kayo nodded, and with a sunny smile, Penny headed back up to the deck.

Ridley watched her go before turning back to Kayo.  “And for the plain-speaking astronauts in the room, that means…?”

Kayo’s answering smile was like a shark’s.  “How do you feel about a little breaking and entering?”

“As long as it’s not immediately followed by the words ‘dishonorable’ and ‘discharge,’” she quipped.  “But they did say I had every resource, so…” she shrugged, her eyes drifting back to the frozen image hovering over the desk.  “You have a plan?”

“Yep,” Kayo said cheerfully, heading for the exit.  “There’s just something I need to do first.  Oh, and Ridley?” she added, one hand on the doorframe.  “Grab whatever tools you need to strip one of these things down for rapid transport.    I’ll meet you at the hangar,” she threw over her shoulder as she went to deal with one last thing.

 * * *

“I don’t like leaving you here alone.”

Grandma schooled her fond little smile before she turned around.  Kayo wouldn’t appreciate it, and she really was trying her best to do an impossible job.  “Not alone, kiddo.  I’ve got Max, and Eos said she’d keep one eye on the Island.”  Kayo looked so torn, Grandma had to reach out and take her firmly by the shoulders.  “Go find them, Kayo.  It’s what you need to do.”

Kayo raised one eyebrow.  “Whoever they are, they’ve already demonstrated they can get past the Island’s defenses,” she pointed out.

“Passive defenses,” Ruth corrected with a wicked little chuckle.  “We’ll be watching for them now.”  

“Passive…?” Kayo said slowly, eyes narrowing.

Ruth beamed.  “After that thing, with the Hood and all, Brains and I decided to come up with a few tricks of our own if we were caught here on our own and in trouble again.”  It was rare that she could get one up over Kayo, and Ruth savoured her expression for just a moment.  “If they come back for me or the Thunderbirds, they’re in for one hell of a shock.”  She patted Kayo’s shoulder once, then gave her a little push.  “Go bring them home.”

Kayo licked her lips, weighing up her options before she gave a curt little nod.

Ruth watched her go before turning back to the projection of the world hovering above the living room table.

Her boys weren’t the only ones who needed saving today.

 * * *

“Holy sweet mother of engineering, that is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen.”

Kayo grinned to herself, starting her hurried pre-flight checks as Ridley stood, jaw open and head tipped back to take in the lines of Thunderbird Shadow. 

Kayo grinned to herself and went to paw through supplies for a few extra tools she hoped they wouldn’t need. Without Brains and with only intermittent power in the hangar, she had to find the things she needed herself, but even so, it only took a few minutes to stow the package in Shadow’s tiny cargo slot.  “Ready?”  Kayo asked, finding her spare helmet and tossing it at Ridley.

Ridley smiled, eyes alight.  “Oh, please tell me this thing goes fast.”

Kayo winked and helped her onto the tiny jump seat.  Ridley’s delighted gasp was loud as they dropped off the launchpad and the engines roared.

Next stop: Germany.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The speed was exhilarating.

The speed was exhilarating.  

Shadow made German airspace in a time that seemed barely credible, almost outrunning the night as she slid in for a landing in a hidden courtyard in the factory district, barely disturbing the garbage that had piled up against the chain link fence.

Ridley unclipped her harness, pausing when the canopy didn’t pop like she was expected.  “Are we waiting for someone?” she asked.  

“You can walk if you want,” Kayo said back, her hands confident on the controls.  “But we’re nearly a kilometer away from the target, so…” Kayo trailed off, amusement threading through her voice as Ridley froze.  There was a tiny jolt of bolts unlocking, and the entire cockpit began to lower.

Ridley made a low noise, impressed.  “Don’t tell the others, but your Thunderbird is now my favourite Thunderbird.”

Kayo revved the engine of the bike and lit up her helmet’s HUD with a gesture.  “It will be our little secret.”  The bike shot off into the gathering German night.

 * * *

The director of operations for the factory was the kind of oily fellow that made Penny’s skin crawl.

She didn’t let it show, smiling pleasantly as she chattered away on autopilot.  She’d played this role for years, and by now could do it in her sleep – rich daddy’s little princess, sent out on makework to keep her out of mischief.

The rest of her sat behind the mask and took notes; for someone with eyes to see, there was a lot going on here.  The padlocked doors were her first clue. An anachronistic lock was the defense of choice for when your likely foe tended towards the high-tech approach, or for when you were so paranoid you needed to be able to feel in your hands that your secret was still secure.  Many locks may give the owner a psychological advantage, but from Penny’s point of view, they were just a nuisance. 

Penny preferred working people – they were usually easier to crack.

Some workers had badges with a green dot on them, small enough and discrete enough to avoid casual detection.  Penny only noticed by watching the workers, seeing who deferred to who, which workers were given the widest berth, the most deferential treatment. 

It was the work of moments to pocket one off an outbound worker.  It seemed a useful thing to hold onto.

“And that concludes our tour, Lady Penelope,” her host said, hurrying her towards the small, cordoned-off waiting area around the door at a pace barely slower than a run.  “Thank you for your visit, I wish you a safe journey home.”

Penny would never be so crude as to use the phrase ‘a bum rush’ but as she was almost ejected out of the front door at speed, it was a term that fit.  “Well,” she said to the empty air.  It was chill in Munich, and the little outfit she had tucked away in a tidy compartment in her car wasn’t designed for the cold.  Shivering slightly, she tucked her arms around herself and hurried over to where she had parked FAB1.

The door opened obediently as she stepped up, allowing Penny to slide in without breaking stride.  “Thank you, Eos,” Penny said gratefully.

“Shall I drive us on to allay suspicion?” she asked through the car’s speakers.

Penny raised an eyebrow.  “You can do that?”

“Of course,” she replied, sounding mildly offended.  “However, John made me promise to him that I would not take over any Thunderbird without the express permission of the operator.”

Penny relaxed back in her accustomed seat.  She could drive, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed it.  “Well then, consider permission granted.  For this trip,” she added.  Parker would not appreciate a backseat driver.

“Understood.”  FAB1 purred into life and slid away into the night.

Penny watched the best of Munch’s industrial architecture roll by for ten minutes, until she was sure they had not attracted a tail.  Her finger drifted across the control panel, and the bubble went dark.  “Well,” she said finally.  “Wasn’t that an interesting exercise in obfuscation?” she asked the air.  “Did you notice the mechanical locks on the doors?”

“Six,” Eos said promptly.  “Plus a trapdoor under the quality control overseer’s station.”  Penny blinked; she’d missed that.  “The wifi signal was encrypted, but the hard lines were freshly laid and shallow, and I was able to determine data traffic if not content.  From the signal strength and delay, I extrapolate at least three sub-basements that are not on the plans lodged with the planning authority.” In front of her, a hologram appeared, the known building in blue, Eos’ projection in red.  “I checked city waste and disposal area records and six months ago, multiple additional truckloads arrived from this quadrant of the city, consistent with new sub-levels being covertly dug out.”

Penny sat back as FAB1 smoothly made the turn onto the ring road.  “Eos,” she said at last.  “If things on Five don’t work out for you, may I suggest you have a bright future in espionage.”

“From you,” she said, sounding pleased.  “I shall take the compliment. The thing is,” she added. “I do not understand why?”

“It’s usually either money or power.” Penny shrugged, adding a few notations of her own to the diagram.  “Wanting it, having it, or having it held over you.  We don’t have enough information yet to decide which, and until we do, we must proceed with caution.  They do, after all, mostly like have our people.”  With a flick of her fingers, she bundled the entire data package together and sent it on.  “Luckily for us, we have a Kayo.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paranoia as a job requirement

“Are mid-range engineering contractors all this paranoid?”

From over Kayo’s shoulder, Ridley reached out to spin the tiny image, taking in the layout of the building from all sides.  “Can’t say they are.”  Ridley sighed.  “Then again, I’m not usually breaking into their factories at midnight, so I’m guessing all bets are off.”

Kayo patted her arm as she turned back to the bike.  “Penny’s got us a good start, but we need hard evidence before we start kicking in doors.”

Ridley rolled her eyes.  “You could try sounding a little less gleeful about that prospect.”  

Kayo shoved a bag at Ridley’s chest.  “Nah,” she drawled, startling a laugh out of Ridley.  Her smile slowed as she studied Ridley’s profile.  “You don’t have to come along,” she pointed out.

“Oh, but I got all dressed up in creeper black.”  Ridley gestured at her borrowed clothes.  “Besides, I hate puzzles.  They bug me.”

Grinning to herself, Kayo sauntered towards the rear door of the factory, projecting an aura of belonging, aware of Ridley trying to mimic her walk in a way that was sure to grab the attention of anyone who happened to glance their way.

Kayo rolled her eyes and palmed her lockpicks.  In the time it would take a key, she had tossed the tumblers and swung the door open.  “In,” she hissed, almost scruffing Ridley in her haste to push her inside.

The small anteroom was dimly lit as Kayo closed the door behind them.  The only feature was a biometric scanner around the far door leading into the factory.  Kayo studied it for a moment, humming quietly under her breath.

“Just for future reference,” Ridley asked, watching her carefully.  “Was that sound you just made an amused noise, or a disgusted noise?”

“Just a noise.”  Kayo reached into her vest pocket and pulled out the very useful card that Brains had made for her when she had taken over security for International Rescue.  “What I don’t understand,” she admitted as she headed over to a nondescript panel set into the edge of the machine.  “Is why people always forget that International Rescue and Tracy Industries are run by the same people.”   She waved the card over the scanner bed, and heard a musical sequence of beeps in reply.  She turned back to Ridley.  “And why the bad guys still use our tech.”

Ridley’s eyes were on the display of the scanner.  “You have a backdoor,” she breathed.

Kayo smirked.  “Brains backdoors everything.  You never know when it might come in handy.”  Behind her, the scanner emitted a descending cascade of sad beeps and went dark.  “Like tonight.  Come on.”

Ridley was silent as she followed Kayo into the factory.  “Global One has TI components,” she said slowly after a minute.  “Do you…”

“Over there,” Kayo cut her off, gesturing across the floor even as she guided them through the shadows around the maze of machinery and design fabricators.  The factory was like Brains’ workshop writ large, and Kayo kept them moving confidently to the X on her mental map.  “Hello,” she murmured to herself as she fingered the heavy padlock on the door for a moment before setting to work with her picks once more.

“Can you open…” Ridley asked, her jaw snapping shut as Kayo dropped the heavy lock into her hand.  “Nevermind.”

The stairs were steep, lit only by the glow of Kayo’s torch.  She cast the beam across the rough-hewn concrete walls and over the small maze of crude benches set up under industrial worklights.

Ridley picked up one of the pieces left out on the tables.  “Electrical components.”  She glanced around.  “They’re building something, by hand.” She let the part drop back onto the workbench.  “This is old school engineering.  They have millions of dollars worth of fabbers upstairs, why do it this way?”

Kayo thought of the old style key locks on the doors as she unrolled a paper blueprint from the box of them by the table.  “Unhackable,” she said, the word almost spilling out of her.  But as soon as she said it, she knew in her gut she was on the right track.  “No digital trail to link back to them.”

Ridley nodded, slowly turning to take it all in.  “They’ve airgapped their production line,” she agreed.  “So is this enough evidence for you?”

Kayo shook her head even as she ran her hand scanner over the page, recording the diagrams for later analysis.  Time was against them.  When someone was missing, after twenty-four hours the odds of finding them dropped like a stone.

They fell into a rhythm, Ridley opening the blueprints as Kayo scanned them.  They returned them to the box, seemingly undisturbed.  As Kayo did one last sweep, Ridley looked around.  “Didn’t Eos say there were more levels?”

They fanned out, searching for any sign of a door.  “Kayo?”  Ridley called out from the corner, where she had been poking around a desk set slightly apart from the others.  “I think you better see this.”

Kayo’s heart leapt into her throat as she saw the fan of photographs Ridley was holding; surveillance photos, snapped with a telephoto lens.  As Ridley flipped through the images, Kayo recognized rescues – that time with that kid and the balloon in New Zealand, the one where Brains and Lemaire had found the Solar Kythera, a dozen other rescues from across the world.  Kayo picked up one that caught her in profile, standing on the desert sands, looking up at the wreckage of Fischler’s weather tower.  “These are all from the last six months,” she noted, eyes narrowing as she tried to remember the desert, work out the angles to figure out where her observer had hid.

There had only been sand all around them; that suggested stealth technology.

Ridley frowned as she shook out a page of readouts.  “This is GDF chatter transcript,” she said.  Her voice darkened.  “And shuttle departure logs from Global One.”

Kayo thought through the implications.  “That’s how they worked out where John was,” she realized, and the paper readout crumpled in Ridley’s fist.  “Focus on finding them,” Kayo ordered her quickly, well aware of how destructive that feeling of rage could be.

Ridley nodded curtly, but her fingers uncurled.  “Right.  What’s our next move?”

Kayo’s eye had been caught by a metallic flash peeking out from under the piles of paper.  She tugged out a gold-embossed invitation and fanned it thoughtfully. 

 * * *

The gold flashed in the soft light spilling out of FAB1′s open door.  Kayo leaned against the bodywork as Penny considered the implications.  “I know this name,” she said, the small piece of card dancing between her fingers.  “He was my rather ungracious host this afternoon.”

Kayo sucked air through her teeth.  “Well, that means he knows at least two of us.”

Penny’s lips thinned.  “He probably knows I work for International Rescue, if he’s had us under surveillance for as long as you say.”  She soundly mildly put out by the entire idea.

Kayo nodded, pushing herself up off the side of Penny’s car.  “He’s still our best lead.”

Penny’s eyes had grown distant.  “Agreed,” she said slowly, rolling the idea around in her mind.  It was risky, but they were running out of _time_.  “A party,” she added, fanning herself with the invitation.  “He won’t be on guard.  Eos?”

“Yes, Lady Penelope?” Eos asked brightly.

“I don’t suppose you could add a name to the guest list?”

“Of course, Lady Penelope.”

Kayo shook her head.  “No, it’s too risky, Penny,” she argued.  “He’s met you and he knows who I am.  As soon as he catches sight of either of us, he’ll bolt.”

Penny smiled like the Cheshire Cat and turned to the figure who was perched on the drivers seat with her legs out the door.  “I wasn’t planning on attending.”  She looked Ridley up and down.  “I think you’re about my size, and I have the perfect dress in my travelling kit.”  She tapped her chin thoughtfully as Ridley burst up onto her feet in surprise.  “And luckily for us, I have an alias who is a brunette.”

Ridley was shaking her head.  “No.  No, no, no.  I’m an astronaut, not a secret agent.”

“Not for tonight.”  Penny just beamed at her.  “Captain O’Bannon, you shall go to the ball!”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures at the ball

Ridley kept the smile on her face as she turned to sweep her gaze over the room.  “Just for the record, I still think this is a bad idea.”

“Relax,” Penny purred in her ear.  “We’ve got eyes on you, and Kayo’s already found a way in to watch your back.  Now, sweep gracefully down the stairs, accept a flute of champagne so you don’t look out of place, and find out target, there’s a good girl.”

Ridley’s smile flickered into a grimace.

“And remember to smile,” Penny added cheekily. “It’s good for you.” 

Resisting the urge to throw a rude gesture or six at the nearest camera, Ridley swept down into the main throng of the party and accepted a flute of champagne from a waiter.

She drifted around the party, scanning faces while trying not to stare.  “How do you do this?” she muttered under the cover of taking a sip of champagne.

“How do you fly a space station?” Penny shot back.  “You’re doing great, keep at it.”

Ridley almost choked on her mouthful of champagne. “I see him.”

There was a pause.  “And I have him on cameras,” Penny confirmed, all business once more.

“Captain O’Bannon,” Eos cut in.  “If you can get close, I may be able to clone his comm signal.”

“Eos,” Penny said patiently.  “What did we say about letting me do the talking on comms?”

“Sorry Lady Penelope,” Eos replied, abashed.

Ridley wore a real smile as they bickered gently in her ear.  She drifted with the crowds, trying not to be obvious as she angled herself towards the wall of art about ten feet behind where their target was standing, drinking from a tumbler as he surveyed the crowd.  There was a security camera overlooking the paintings, and Ridley raised a questioning eyebrow at the lens.

“I have signal,” Eos confirmed.  “Comm cloned.  Backtracing now.”

“Good work,” Penny praised.  “Now we need to interrogate him.  Ready?”

Ridley swigged half her glass of champagne in one mouthful.  Taking a steadying breath, she let Penny count her in.  “Three, two, one…and turn.”

Ridley spun on the spot and collided with their target.  Her mostly empty glass splashed droplets over her hand as she flinched for real.  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she cried out.  “I didn’t see you there.”

Penny had described him as _oily_  and Ridley now understood what she meant.  There was something about the man that left Ridley, even after only a few seconds close proximity, with the urge to go wash her hands.  “No harm done, my fair lady,” he said, shaking out his pocket square.  Ridley thought he was going to hand it to her, but he caught her outstretched hand and gently began wiping down her fingers himself.

Ridley had to work to keep the surprised repulsion off her face.  “Well, uh, thank you?” she tried.

“You are more than welcome,” he oozed, bowing slightly as he pocketed the soiled square of fabric.  “Have we met before, my lady?  You seem familiar?”  Ridley shook her head too quickly.  “Ah, I must be mistaken.  Then please, allow me to introduce myself.  I am Gunther Heidrich, Director of Heidrich Industries, at your service.”

“ _Smile_ ,” Penny sang into her ear as Gunther bowed over her hand and kissed her knuckles.  Ridley managed to school her features just in time as he straightened again, tugging lightly at the drape of his jacket.

Ridley hoped her disgust wasn’t showing in her eyes.  “Nancy Danvers,” she introduced herself with a polite nod of her head.  Penny had coached her in the car on the way over, instructing her on Nancy Danvers’ backstory, her way of talking, her way of being.  “You have the right accent at least, though you could even turn it up a little more, ” Penny said, dropping into a passable mid-Western accent.  “Use that.”

Ridley dredged up memories of the way her grandma used to drawl every word and continued to work through her mental script.  “I’m here with the Embassy, I advise their technology portfolio, contracts and whatnot.”  As Penny had predicted, Gunther’s eyes lit up with predatory greed.  “Only arrived this week, still finding my way around,” she added.  Penny had counseled using the occasional girlish giggle, but Ridley was not now and had never been a giggler.  She settled instead for a demure little flutter of her eyelashes.

In her ear was a low whistle.  “Nicely done.  Now let’s start reeling in this fish, shall we?”

Ridley made a show of looking around the party.  “I was hoping to meet representatives of JFL Manufacturing,” she added like she hadn’t just name-dropped his biggest rival.  “I don’t suppose you could point me in the right direction?”

His smile cracked.  “Ach, you don’t want to talk to those, how do you say, those cowboys?”

Penny made a noise in her ear.  “He went to Texas A&M for his undergrad,” she commented.  “Looks like you’re not the only one playing the exotic foreigner tonight.”

Ridley only managed at the last second to turn her instinctive gesture to touch her earpiece into an awkward brush against her earrings.  “Cowboys?” she asked awkwardly.  “Really?”

“Turn slightly and start walking towards the north stairwell,” Penny advised briskly.  “Trust me, he’ll follow.”

Her smile was as much grimace and grin as Ridley fought the urge to reply out loud to Penny.  Keeping the voices in her ear straight was a struggle.

But Ridley followed her instruction, impressed slightly when he almost skipped to keep up with her.  “Yes, really.  I’m sure a pretty lady such as yourself would be bored by such technicalities, but their design of their induction systems is…” he shook his head, waving away the rest of that sentence like it was of no consequence.

“Nancy is a diplomatic attache,” Penny hissed in her ear.  “Think _diplomatic_.”

“I…have been led to believe,” Ridley said, catching herself at the last second.  “That their design is innovative.”

He made a noise of disgust under his breath, not seeming to notice as Ridley led them past the stairwell and down a short passage.  “You have been misinformed, my lady, but now is not the time for me to explain some complex systems to…” he glanced around, finally noticing the lack of noise.  “Wait, where are we…” he turned back to her, and his eyes narrowed as he studied her features.  “I know who you are, you’re that GDF Captain!” 

He made to bolt, but Ridley grabbed him by the shoulders and, cursing the restrictively tight dress, spun Gunther into a wall.  Slamming her bodyweight against his spine, she pressed his cheek into the wall.  “Spying on a lady is so very rude, Gunther,” she purred into his ear.

Over the comms, Penny sighed.  “We should have guessed he’d have run Global One’s crew register.“  She didn’t sound angry so much as mildly put out.

Under her hands, Gunther bucked suddenly, knocking her off balance.  In the split second Ridley tottered on her heels, Gunther broke left and straight into a large silver serving tray being swung expertly at head level.  His body continued on under its own momentum even as Gunther’s head rocked back, his nose spraying droplets of blood over the carpet.  He landed flat on his back like a sack of rocks and went still.

Kayo tucked the serving dish under one arm and smiled brightly at Ridley like she hadn’t just cold-cocked a man with the silver service.  

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any champagne left?” Ridley quipped weakly, taking in Kayo’s waitressing outfit.

“The magnums are in the cool rooms.  Which are nice and soundproofed,” she added with a grin that made Ridley take half a step back.  “Come on, help me move him.”

He groaned weakly as the two women hauled him up between them and dragged him down the corridor towards the kitchens.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interrogation

Kayo watched, arms folded, as Gunther Heidrich slowly came to. The delicate fleur de lis pattern of the silver platter had imprinted on his cheek, and it was taking all Kayo’s discipline not to stare at it.

Next to her, Penny started pacing out a slow loop around where he was tied to a chair in the middle of the frigid room, a moving target that split Gunther’s focus, made it harder for him to concentrate.

Kayo let him blink slowly a few more times before she leaned in and patted his cheek.  “Wakey wakey.”

There was a moment of blissful haze.  Kayo could pinpoint the exact second that Gunther recognized who she was, and more importantly, what she represented.  He jolted hard against his restraints.

Kayo grinned, showing teeth.  “Hello, Gunther,” she purred like a tiger.  “I’d introduce myself, but…” she pulled out of her pocket the surveillance photo from the desert and fanned them open.  She waved the set idly, giving him another point to focus on.  “It appears you have me at a disadvantage.”

He tried to school his features.  “I don’t have to tell you anything.”  He swallowed hard at Kayo’s grin and kept going.  “I have done nothing wrong, this is kidnap, this is…”

“Just a friendly chat,” Penny interjected, her fingers light on his shoulders as she broke his attention once more.  His head whipped around as he tried to get a fix on her, and Kayo moved subtly to the left, confusing his sense of the room and its occupants some more.

The bruise on his cheek was livid now; his head had to be hurting.  “Gunther,” Kayo began again, her voice sweet and light.  “We know everything.”

His lips pursed into a thin line as he lifted his head defiantly. “You know nothing,” he spat, dropping the charming facade.  “I hold all the cards, little girl,” he added with a sneer.

Kayo kept her face impassive.  Pride.  She could use that.

Across the room, behind their victim, she saw Penny cant her head slightly, her eyes focusing on nothing as she listened to the voice in her earpiece.  “Let’s look at some of those cards, Mr Heinrich,” she began sweetly. “Such as, perchance, the large cash deposits you’ve been making to a numbered account held by a shell company of yours?”  Kayo saw Gunther’s eyes widen slightly as Penny and Eos scored a direct hit.  

Penny draped her hands over Gunther’s shoulders, speaking softly as she continued.  “Shall we discuss who gave you that money, Gunther?”

Gunther’s head shook rapidly from side to side. “No, no, I’m never giving him up.”

That narrowed the field slightly.  Kayo wondered if her Uncle could mastermind something of this scale from prison, or if he even had enough assets left to fund it.  “Are you so sure that the second he hears we’re onto you, he won’t give you up for dead?” she asked, piling on a little more pressure.

Gunther was sweating, despite the chill of the coolroom, his movements become more frantic and jerky with every passing second.  “He won’t, not while I still hold his prize,” he crowed triumphantly.

Kayo didn’t even need to look at Penny to know what she was thinking.  Gunther was the agent, not the mastermind.

And he hadn’t delivered yet.  There was still time.

Gunther was rambling now, fear an almost visible stink around him.  “Thought he could buy me cheap! I know who those boys are, I know what they’re worth,” he babbled.  “If that clanking bastard wants them, he’ll have to pay.  Gods know there are others out there who’d spend their fortunes for those brats, like hell I’d just give them up.”

Behind him, Penny gave Kayo a nod of assent and stepped backwards.

Kayo glanced around, assessing her props.  This would have to be fast and messy, but the longer they dallied, the greater the risk to her brothers.  Time to improvise.

She pulled the small bottle of water out of her pocket. It was one of Gordon’s, a part of the collection of water bottles he tended to bring home from rescues around the world.  He called it recycling, bringing them home, but everyone knew he just liked the odd shapes.  Kayo teased him for being a packrat, but it might just help her now.

This one was an odd shape, and it’s label was covered by blue electrical tape.  Virgil’s handwriting was all but illegible to the uninitiated, but Kayo kept her finger over the chemical formula for water anyway and tried to _believe_  her lie.

“Well,” she snarled, making a show of carefully uncapping the bottle.  “I guess we’ll just have to burn it out of you.”

“Careful,” Penny said, sounding worried and out of her depth, the good cop to Kayo’s bad.

“A little hydrochloric acid eyedrop,” Kayo leered.  “And he’ll tell us anything we want to know.”

The chair they had strapped Gunther to made little scraping noises across the floor as he tried to jerk himself backwards.  “Please, please, no,” he begged, eyes glued to the bottle in her hands.  “I’ll tell you what you want to know, I’ll tell you everything.  They’re in my factory.”

Kayo held the bottle out over his head.  “Liar.”

He cringed away like a beaten dog.  “Not my main factory.  I have a shell company, we have a facility out in Obersendling,” he said quickly, the words bunching up against each other as his accent thickened.

“I have traced the shell company,” Eos announced in her ear.  “And I have an address.”

Kayo doubted there would be much more they’d get out of him of immediate use.  “I believe you,” she said.

He sagged with relief, and Kayo emptied the bottle over his head.

He spluttered, eyes flashing as he realized too late the trick.  “Why you…” was as far as he got before Kayo punched him right in the face.

“Well, that was dramatic,” Penny noted as Gunther slumped, unconscious.

Kayo shook out her hand.  “Couldn’t risk him raising the alarm before we found them,” she said easily, believing this to be true too.

Penny reached over and picked up Gordon’s bottle.  “Though – hydrochloric acid?” she asked, sounding more amused than anything.

Kayo shrugged.  “It was in this old movie Virgil was watching last week.”

“Uhuh,” Penny grinned.  “ _Sure_.”

Kayo turned away from Penny’s grin and stepped out of the coolroom and into the still quiet back corridor.  “Done?” Ridley asked.

Kayo nodded, tossing her the empty bottle.  “We’ve got a lead,” she said as Ridley bobbled the catch.  “Think the GDF would mind picking up our friend in there?”

Ridley tapped the empty bottle against her palm, making a soft tapping sound.  “I’m sure they’d be delighted.”

“Good,” Penny said briskly, coming up quickly, gently touching their arms as she passed.  “Next stop,  Obersendling.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night moves

Night vision turned the world monochrome.  Ridley let her eyes adjust for a moment, slowly making sense of the world in shades of red.  

“Guards on the perimeter,” Penny’s voice was clear across the comms.  “I count six on the east side.”

“Four on the west,” Kayo snapped a moment later.  “Ridley.”

“Um,” Ridley double-checked her own count.  “I think it’s four here too.”  Fourteen seemed like a _lot_  of guards to Ridley.  “Sure we can’t come in from the north?”

Kayo’s chuckle was a low buzz in her ear.  “Only if we want to make a song and dance about our arrival.  We’ll save that for plan B.”

Ridley let Penny and Kayo’s chatter as they discussed the best way to get in flow over her as she continued to observe the guards.  Their paths had seemed random at first, but there was something about the pattern of their appearances that was bugging Ridley.

“Eos, are you seeing this?” she asked.

“Yes, Captain O’Bannon,” Eos replied promptly.  

“Is it just me, or is there…something…” Ridley frowned, counting under her breath.  “Three, two, one…” The shadowy figure of a guard appeared right where she was expecting.

There was a pregnant pause over her comms.  “I have mapped the guards movements using all three scanners,” Eos announced over the main channel a moment later.  “Testing model now.”

“Model?” Penny asked brusquely. 

Ridley grinned and dropped down from her perch.  “Yep.  It’s what us scientists use to figure things out,” she added.  “Since we’re all weak and noodly and can’t hit things with serving platters.”

She grinned as she heard Kayo’s amused snort loud and clear over the comms.  Ducking down behind some convenient shrubbery, Ridley took a deep breath and got ready to run.

 * * *

Eos had put a countdown clock in the lower corner of her HUD as if Kayo wasn’t acutely aware of how little time they had.  “Two-factor security?” she repeated, glancing over her shoulder.

“Hold your horses,” Ridley told her, kneeling down with her work bag open at her feet.  She confidently pried off the touchpad, exposing a tangle of wires.  “Just because it’s made by the competition doesn’t mean there isn’t a handy back door for us.”  She stripped one wire that to Kayo looked exactly the same as every other.  “Or conveniently cracked window,” she added, pulling a small device out of her pocket and connecting it to the system.  “Okay, maestro, take it away.”

“Accessing buffer,” Eos announced. Three seconds, and the light on the dangling touchpad went from red to orange.  “First factor circumvented.  System now requesting factory-issued ID.  Accessing employee database.  There is 264 bit encryption which I can defeat in….”

“Wait,” Penny said sharply, digging in her purse.  She pulled out the stolen staff ID.  “Will this do?”  She waved it at the touchpad, and the light went from orange to green.

The _thunk_  of the security bolts sliding back was loud in the night.

“Or we could do it that way,” Eos said, sounding slightly put out.  

Ridley chuckled as she pushed the touchpad back into place and scooped up her bag.  “Nice work, partner,” she drawled, briefly touching the comm in her ear.  

“Thanks. Four seconds until next guard pass,” Eos responded, bright and brisk.

Ridley hightailed in through the door and carefully closed it behind her.

The guard didn’t hear the click.

 * * *

Penny deftly tied her hair up into a loose knot, like she’d seen Moffie wear.  She carried spectacles in her bag as a matter of course – who knew when she’d need to project genteel intellectualism.  She slid them on and turned back to her team.

“Very nice,” Ridley said approvingly.  “I’m pretty sure I sat next to you in Intro Calc.”

Penny beamed back as she pinned her stolen pass to her lapel.  “Just don’t ask me to derive anything.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Ridley told her as she scooped up a clipboard and flipped through its contents.  “Leave the science to me.”

Penny found a pencil in the lab coat’s pocket and slid it into her bun for the finishing touch.  “When this is done,” she told them.  “I am taking you both for breakfast at this delightful Parisian patisserie I know.”

Ridley gave Penny a thumbs up as she walked across the room to where Kayo was peeking around the door that connected the locker room to the work floor.  “How are we looking?”

Kayo craned her neck slightly.  “There are workers out there,” she said.  “What are they making at this hour?”

Penny tugged her labcoat closed over her dress.  “Let’s go find out, shall we?”

They walked briskly, scanning the room, murmuring comments to each other. As they passed occupied stations, heads glanced up and then studiously returned to their work.

Kayo flashed Penny a look – the unspoken sense of ‘I saw nothing’ was thick in the air among the workers.  They continued on, looking for any sign of hidden rooms and locked doors.

“This is nano-tech,” Ridley hissed, glancing around before ducking into an unoccupied station.  Penny and Kayo followed, making a show of conferring over their clipboards.  After a quick glance across the board, Ridley’s hands danced over the controls, bringing up the design schematics of its current programming.  She let out a low whistle, impressed despite herself.

“What is it?” Penny asked.

“This thing is tiny,” Ridley explained, rotating the design along its main axis.  “Like, angels dancing on the head of a pin tiny.  Hey, wait, I saw this on the blueprints back in that secret room,” she exclaimed, too loud.  Kayo jabbed her and Ridley flashed her an apologetic smile.  “This is a finishing stage, lemme see if I can get some system parameters…..” Numbers scrolled across the screen, and Ridley let out a low whistle as she sat back, gobsmacked.  “The applications for this kind of technology are endless.”

“But what about _our_ application,” Kayo pressed, one eye on the walkway between the machines.

Ridley took a deep breath.  “When folded down, this thing is, maybe, as big as a few grains of sand.  But the subatomic folding means it could open up to the macro scale.  Maybe as big as a space emergency rescue bubble,” she added, struggling to find a way to explain what she was seeing.  “Just big enough for one, but…”

“That’s all you’d need,” Penny finished darkly.  “Attach it while it’s small, unfurl it and _snap_ ,” she said with a pop.  “Boy in a bubble, ready for collection.”

Ridley’s eyes were wide.  “This is a remarkable application of some of the properties of quantum physics.  Whoever came up with this is an honest-to-goodness mad scientist.”

Penny and Kayo exchanged looks.  “Or Mechanic,” Penny added.

“Hey!”  The voice was loud and gruff and so unexpected that all three heads snapped around.

The man coming towards them was heavy-set, and the lab coat did little to conceal his underarm holster.  He glanced between the three of them.

Penny moved subtly between him and Ridley.  “Yes, what is it, we’re very busy here,” she snapped with so much authority and righteousness that the newcomer almost stumbled.

He glanced at the badge hanging from her lapel.  “Sorry, ma’am, I wasn’t informed there’d be an inspection tonight.”

Penny lifted her chin, feeling steel in her spine.  “With everything on the line, are you surprised?”

He shook his head hastily.  “No ma’am, of course, I’d just….” his eyes narrowed as he glanced between the three of them.  “Dr Travers not with you tonight?”

“No, of course not,” Penny said dismissively.  She could feel Kayo tensing slightly beside her, and discreetly moved to stand on Kayo’s toes. 

He scowled briefly.  “But ain’t he the expert of nano…whatsit…”

Kayo twitched free of Penny’s foothold.  “On the dimensionality of carbon-7 modulation for the twisted amyloid assembly?” she asked, enunciating every word clearly and quickly.”  She smiled at his wide-eyed blink.  “As a member of the team, I think we can manage just fine with Dr Travers back at the main factory.”

He almost bowed to her.  “Of course, miss.  Doctor.  Umm…”

Penny took charge once more.  “That will be all for now.”

“Will you be wanting to go downstairs this evening?” he asked, sketching another little bow.

The three women looked between themselves.  “Yes” Penny answered for them all, smiling charmingly.  “Yes we would.”

“Very good, doctors, I’ll get a couple of the lads together to escort you down.”  He leaned in conspiratorially.  “Our guests have been getting a little rowdy.  One even nearly managed to hack the lock before we found him.”

Penny kept her face impassive.  She felt Ridley turn back to the screen to hide her own expression.  “Well, that is distressing news.  Very well, we’ll be down shortly.”

“Yes, doctor,” he said, turning and pounding back up the walkway towards the northern-most end of the factory.

The three women stared at each other for a long moment, waiting for the sounds of his footfalls to die away.  “Kayo?” Ridley asked slowly.  “Twisted amyloid?”

She shrugged, grinning.  “I don’t _just_  hit people,” he teased.  She jerked her head towards the screen.  “Can you copy that data.”

Ridley lifted her hand off the control board, revealing a small drive, plugged in with lights flashing.  “Eos?” she asked.

“Download complete,” she announced in their ear pieces.  “I also took the opportunity to map the building’s network.  There is a dead zone in the north east corner, and evidence of EM shielding.”

“Well then,” Penny said, stepping back onto the walkway.  “Let’s not keep our host waiting.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Into darkness

Kayo let Penny lead them down the open hatch into the darkness.

Every part of her was screaming _trap_ , but the die was cast and they were committed to following this path wherever it led.  The mental clock in her head was counting the hours since the boys were taken, and the urge to just rush in and bash heads until she got what she needed was strong.

But she was stronger.  Shoulders square, she didn’t flinch as the hatch in the factory floor closed behind them, leaving them with only one way to go.

The foreman was waiting for them, standing next to a heavy, reinforced steel door.  As they approached, he smiled in a way she didn’t trust and half-bowed as he stepped away to reveal a thumb scanner.  “If you’d be so kind?” he asked, almost snarling.

“ _Stall_ ,” Eos hissed in her ear.

Kayo wasn’t sure she’d ever fully trust the AI, but she could trust it on this.  “Firstly, tell me about this escape attempt?” she took half a step forward, into his personal space, triggering every defensive instinct he had.  “Why weren’t they under observation?”  It was a stab in the dark, but if she was in charge, she’d be demanding a twenty-four hour guard.

He flinched slightly away from the intensity of her attack.  “Uh, they timed it for the shift change,” he spluttered.

Penny had picked up on what where Kayo was heading.  “Well then,” she snapped, every inch an imperious Lady.  “I will want to speak with those involved before we leave, have them assemble upstairs for inspection.”

He rallied well, Kayo had to give him that.  “Of course, but first, your thumbprint, please.”  He pointed at the scanner.

He was already suspicious; if they stalled any more, they might not get in at all.  Kayo spread her feet slightly, finding her posture and balance as Penny, lips thin and eyes narrowed, stepped over to the scanner without breaking eye contact.

Kayo held her breath as Penny pressed her thumb to the scanner.

The moment hung heavy in the air, then the light went green.  Penny stepped back, and it was only because she knew her did Kayo recognize that Penny was trying not to look surprised.  “Shall we?” Penny asked, gesturing subtly for him to lead the way.

Hidden from his view, Ridley subtly held her fist out behind her towards Kayo.  Biting her lip, Kayo tapped her knuckles against Ridley’s and followed their unwitting guide deeper underground.

 * * *

Penny heard Scott before she saw them.

This day was testing her ability to keep a neutral expression, but Penny’s stride didn’t falter as she stepped up to the one-way glass.

Inside, she wanted to cheer.

Five Thunderbirds and one engineer, accounted for.  Alan was tucked in close to Virgil, but Gordon was pacing. Scott’s rage was more tightly contained, but she could read pent-up energy in every line of his body.  John was propped in the corner, head back and eyes closed, looking more like a man asleep on a train than a hostage.  He always was the patient one among the five of them.

“What happened to him?” Penny asked the foreman gruffly, jerking her chin at where Brains was sat, on Virgil’s other side, his hand wrapped in crisp, white bandages.

“Like I said,” and there was something in his voice that made the short hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.  “He almost made in through the locks.”

“I hope you didn’t break him,” Penny asked archly, stalling for time, trying to read the room.  “We need him whole for delivery.”

He shrugged, and his expression was hungry.  “Well, given the Big Boss is just about to land,” he said, watching her face intently.  “I guess he’s not too fussed about a few bangs and bruises.”

Penny heard a tiny intake of breath.  And from the look on his face, she knew the foreman had heard it too.

The gun was in his hand, and Penny wanted to curse.  Nothing more dangerous than an amateur with a gun, especially in a small space.  “Now let’s just take it easy,” she soothed, shifting her weight slightly to find the best angle.

“I sent your pictures up,” he sneered.  “And guess what came back?”  He adjusted his grip on the pistol.  “I’m gonna get a bonus for handing over the full set.”

Penny rolled her eyes, hands held up loosely by her shoulders.  “Sorry to disappoint.”  She curled her fingers into fists, and his eyes instinctively tracked the motion.

She kicked him hard where it hurt, and he folded in the middle with a gurgling sound.  But even as he dropped to his knees, he reached out for Penny.

There was a resounding clang and the foreman collapsed, spread-eagled and unconscious on the floor.  Penny gawped for a second, then looked up at the figure behind him.

Ridley was frozen in place, her eyes wide as she shifted her gaze from the sprawled body to Penny.  Penny raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the cracked tablet still held in Ridley’s raised hands.

Kayo whistled, low and impressed, and the crystalline moment shattered.  “ _Nice_.”

Ridley unfroze, shrugging as she inspected her purloined weapon.  “Wow, broke the spine, he must have a hard head. What?” she asked as shook her head slightly away from Penny and Kayo’s stares.  “Are you the only ones allowed to hit bad guys with heavy objects?”

Kayo stepped over and gripped Ridley’s shoulders to bring her up square. Ridley’s eyes darted over to Penny for support as Kayo studied Ridley’s face for a long moment.  As Penny folded her arms, Kayo broke out in a warm, proud smile and gently cuffed Ridley’s head in a way that almost felt like a rough pat.

“Quite right,” Penny said.  “But leave hitting the bad guys to the professionals, please.”

Ridley tossed the now-broken tablet onto the table.  “I am okay with that,” she said, sounding a little shaky and high on adrenaline.  But she grinned back at Kayo, the two of them sharing a little nod.

“Especially,” Penny added, her head tilting back as the unmistakable sound of a chopper landing on the roof filtered down to the foundations.  “As I suspect things are about to get interesting.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ridley had been trained to control her fear

Ridley had been trained to control her fear.  

Even so, the jolt of adrenaline that coursed through her system as she heard the chopper touch down was enough to make her take an instinctive step back.  “What now?”

Kayo was looking around, assessing.  “Penny, can you get the boys out and clear?”

Penny nodded, already bobbing down into a crouch to search the unconscious form on the floor for his keys.  “What about you?”

Kayo was at the door, checking the stairs up to the factory.  “I have an idea,” she murmured, voice low.  “But, Ridley?  I need you.”

Ridley nodded quickly, pushing down the taste of acid on her tongue. “You got me.  What do you want me to do?”

 * * *

Kayo liked catwalks.  They ran the length of the building, mostly above the lights, allowing her to move through the shadows on flannel feet.  No-one ever looked up anyway.

She couldn’t get eyes on target, but she could track his motion by the ripples, the way workers scattered like chickens, fluttering and clucking among themselves as _he_  passed by.

He was moving fast.  If Kayo was given to making wishes, she’d wish for more time to prepare.  But she had been trained to work with what she had.

Ridley’s bag had held some very interesting tools, and Brains will probably be furious that they were out of the workshop.  But if it saved his life, he’d just have to deal with it.

Kayo finished making a mess of the final junction box and slid down a support pillar back to the factory level.  Keeping low, she darted three rows across and rapped her knuckles lightly, a quick and distinct pattern, on the cowling of the biggest industrial fabber.

Four seconds later, the machine rumbled into life.

 * * *

Penny heard the machines first.  Alone in the corridor, kneeling to peer into the guts of the lock, no-one saw her smile to herself when the terrified screaming from the factory began to echo down.

It sounded like Kayo’s plan was going well.

The screen, half-dislodged from it’s frame in the wall, flickered to life.  “Kayo and I really should spend more time together,” she told the ring of dots that appeared as she stripped the end of a wire with her teeth.

“The world may not survive the experience,” Eos said primly.  “Also, there are wire strippers in the kit.  I can see them on the cameras.”

“My way’s faster. And hopefully you’re the only one watching me on camera,” Penny retorted, flinching back slightly as she sparked the two ends together.

“I have secured the network,” Eos said, sounding a little put out.  “But this system is airgapped and beyond my network reach.”  There was a long pause.  “John would also be through this door by now.”

“Would John also have you back-seat lockpicking in his ear?” Penny asked, more sharply than she intended.

“No.”  Another pause.  “Because he would be through the door by now.”

Penny stared haughtily at the secure camera in the corner and sparked the wire again.  The next door hissed open.

Arching one eyebrow in challenge, Penny scooped up her share of the tools and walked with her head held high into the final anteroom.

 * * *

Ridley focused on her mission.

The machines were pre-programmed, designed to be operated by few people with minimal training.  Ridley was only one person, but she was very highly trained.

And the universe tended to entropy.  That meant it was always easier to break things.

Plastering herself against the cowling that protected the operator’s station of the latest machine, Ridley closed her eyes and listened, following Kayo’s hastily whispered instructions.

She heard no footsteps, no breathing, no rustle of clothing.  Without looking, Ridley rolled out and dashed to the next station.  With a wave of her hand, the controls lit up blue, and Ridley flipped through the menus.

She smiled slowly.  “Oh,” she breathed.  “Rollers. You flatten things.  Great,” she began flipping commands around with quick deft flicks of her fingers.  “We can have fun with rollers.”

Thirty seconds later, Ridley checked the coast was clear and ran hard for the back of the factory.  She hoped that would be enough; she was now out of time.

Besides, anybody who was near that final machine when the rollers overclocked was going to be having a very bad day.

 * * *

Kayo never thought she’d miss having her Uncle as an adversary, but right now, she’d give anything for one of his generic henchmen.  The Mechanic had no minions; instead, from the tiny glimpses she’d had of him, he was surrounded at all times by buzzing, humming, flying bots.

She’d seen their big brothers before, being tugged out of Two’s wrecked engine intake.

Her eyes narrowed, feeling her mental clock running out of seconds as the factory workers moved like panicked ants; the machines were going crazy, alarms were sounding, there was no sign of the foreman, and those who were sent to find him hadn’t returned either.

She knew Penny had been the right choice to get into the cells.  Kayo just hoped the interruptions hadn’t slowed her down too much, because they all needed to get _out_.

Kayo darted behind a thick concrete column as the Mechanic half-turned, his gauntlet-clad arm glowing softly as he scanned the room.  No minions, but those bots were fierce.  She gave it fifty-fifty whether or not the factory workers would join the fight.

Even at best, those were still not great odds.

Then she heard the words she never liked to hear.

“She’s over there!”

 * * *

Breaking into an evil villain’s underground prison cell always demanded an entrance.

Penny tossed her hair over her shoulder, flipped the lock, swung open the door, and ducked.  “Really, Scott?” she asked mildly, as if Scott had used the wrong fork and hadn’t just tried to brain her with a strut from the cell’s bunk.

“Penny!” he exclaimed, dropping the strut with a clang.  Behind him, his brothers were all bunching up in the doorway, all talking at once.  “Guys, hold up,” Scott chided.

Behind her, Penny heard shouting. “You may want to hold onto that bat of yours,” she advised with a smile as she turned to face whoever was running down those stairs..

“It is Captain O’Bannon,” Eos announced, and Penny relaxed.  

“Ridley, in here,” she called out, ignoring John’s startled noise.  “What’s happening up there?”

Ridley’s cheeks were flushed.  “Sounds like Kayo’s leading them on a chase, but I think we’ve outstayed our welcome.  Hi, John,” she added brightly.

“Run now,” Penny snapped, glaring John into silence.  “Explanations later. Eos, exit.”

John’s startled noise was getting a workout tonight, and Penny made a mental note to tease him mercilessly about it.  After they escaped.

 * * *

“Eos, how we looking?” Ridley asked, glancing around a machine that was smoking in a very alarming way.

“Plan is proceeding,” Eos sounded more confident than Ridley was feeling.  

“And Kayo?”

“She continues to elude capture,” Eos recited.  “She is keeping them clear of the exit.  Prepare to move in three, two…”

Penny leapt out at the end of the countdown, and the boys spread out in a line between her and Ridley like a string of pearls as they darted from cover to cover.

The pall of smoke in the air was getting thick.  “What did you do?” John whispered to her.

Ridley winked at him.  “Pretty much everything.  Go,” she gave him a helpful shove.  “Move.”

Somewhere out there was someone who scared even the Thunderbirds.

Ridley had to work to control her fear.

 * * *

Kayo was fast, but they were faster. Even worse, those bots of his seemed to be almost predicting her movements, like they had _learned_  since their last encounter.

If they had been under surveillance for months, that might actually be quite likely.

“All other Thunderbirds have cleared the factory,” Eos announced in her earpiece, and the knot that had been in Kayo’s chest since the island finally unraveled.

“Time to go,” she whispered, vaulting on top of a machine that was rattling like an unbalanced washer and sprinting across the housing towards the access ladder.  From the catwalk, she could make the roof.

Behind her, she could hear the whine of the Mechanic’s bots, much closer than she expected.

"You will not make your primary exit,” Eos said with blunt fatalism.  “Drop to the walkway on your right and head to the back of the factory.”

“What?” Kayo panted.

“Please trust me.”  There was a pause; Eos’ turning was coming up fast.  “Just this once,” Eos added quietly.

Kayo exhaled hard, her mind running through her options.  Gritting her teeth, she jinxed right, her ankle screaming at her as it took the weight of her turn.  Ignoring the pain, she dropped off the machine, rolling with her momentum, already accelerating as she found her feet and raced for the back of the factory.

It was a straight line to the glowing exit sign, and Kayo was painfully aware that she could not outrun a bullet.

“Keep running,” Eos urged her.  “The cavalry is here.”

Ahead of her, the door bounced almost off its hinges as it was kicked open, and a squad in GDF green helmets poured in to take up a defensive position just inside the door.  “Global Defense Force,” the squad’s sergeant yelled past her.

Kayo dove over the sergeant’s shoulder and out into the soft grey light of dawn.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After party

Ridley shrugged, seemingly unperturbed by Kayo and Penny’s twin stares.  “The Colonel did say I could call on the full resources of the GDF.”  She smiled brightly.  “I assumed that included the tactical response unit.”

“You called in an army.”  Penny said approvingly.  

Ridley shrugged, looking almost abashed.  Almost.  “I really did.”

Penny burst out laughing and started to golf-clap slowly.  “I say, well played. Very well played.”

Ridley bowed slightly in acknowledgement.  

Kayo still had her arms crossed.  “Why?”

This time, it was Ridley who took Kayo gently by the shoulders.  “I’m an astronaut.  Our redundancies have redundancies.  Besides,” she added, giving Kayo a friendly little shove.  “What were you going to do if you actually caught that guy?”

Kayo had no good answer for that. 

“I’m an astronaut and a Captain,” Ridley repeated. “It’s kind of in my bones to bring everyone home.”  

Kayo sighed, but let her arms drop to her sides.  “Fine.  What now?”

Ridley snapped to attention as Kayo and Penny turned.   “There you are.” Colonel Casey was bearing down on them, her lieutenant’s peeling off to carry out her orders. “Well done, all of you.”

Kayo felt her lips curl into a snarl. “The Mechanic got away.”

Casey folded her arms behind her back.  “This time.  And he might have got away, but it was empty-handed. We’ll catch up with him, and you’ve turned up a lot of good leads here.”  The rigidity of the Colonel eased slightly out of her posture.  “Don’t worry, Kayo.  It doesn’t end here.”

Kayo accepted that with a little bobbing nod of her head.

“How are our jailbirds?” Penny asked, slotting herself neatly into the awkward pause.

“The boys will be fine.  Scrapes, bruises, and heavily damaged pride aside, no harm done.” She turned back to Kayo.  “Though perhaps this might be the right time to raise again with Scott the idea of a more coordinated offense?”

Kayo sucked in air through her teeth.  “From the documents, we know that several of those devices that Rid- that Captain O’Bannon found the schematics for were planted on several high profile, ah,” here her lips tweaked into the ghost of a smile.  “Highly risky individuals.  Then all the Mechanic had to do was sit back and wait for one of them to need rescuing again, and the little bots jumped over for a free ride back to the island.”

Ridley picked up the narrative, spinning around her tablet so the Colonel could see.  “They were passive, running on a countdown clock.  There was no room in the mechanism for them to radio coordinates, or even house a GPS.  Just a homing beacon that was also activated on a countdown.”

“Which means,” Penny finished calmly.  “At best, they got a quadrant of ocean in which the Island might be located, and nothing more.”

Casey listened with a worried frown.  “That’s still a pretty bad  _at best_ , Lady Penelope.”

Ridley’s fingers drummed on the casing of her tablet.  “We have all their data.  We’ve, uh, only been able to do a preliminary sweep, ma’am, but the logs don’t show much in the way of analysis.  I don’t think they’d gotten around to looking at it yet.”

Casey glanced at Kayo, who met her stare for stare.  “We’ll be discussing upgrades to the security grid.  I promise,” Kayo added, and the Colonel sighed in defeat.

“Very well.  It’s not like I can order you around.”  Casey cleared her throat, straightening up into her stars and bars once more.  “Though we may need to debrief…”

“Tomorrow,” Penny interjected smoothly.  She smiled, bright and opaque, at the Colonel’s noise of query.  “There’s one last matter we need to attend to.”

 * * * 

The sight of Lady Penelope walking up the stairs had the waiters fluttering like sparrows as they darted around to make ready a table with a view across the city to the Eiffel Tower.  

Seconds later, three chairs were being pulled back as the sommelier swung a sabre and caught the flow of diamond sparkles in three champagne flutes.  “Mademoiselle,” he murmured as he bowed away.  The maître d'hôtel hovered at a discreet distance, allowing them their privacy but ready to spring forward to attend to their every need.

Kayo sat back and took in the leafy vines trellised over their head, the low stone balcony over which the sounds of Paris waking up echoed distantly.  “You’re responsible for brunch from now on,” she said with a wicked little grin at Penny.  “New rule.”

“Seconded, motioned carried,” Ridley quipped, her voice muffled as she bent over to dig through her bag.

Penny frowned even as she picked up her champagne flute.  “Whatever are you doing?”

In response, Ridley re-appeared with her tablet, unfolding the little stand at the back before setting it on the empty place at the table.  The screen flashed on, and the now-familiar ring of lights appeared.

“Good morning,” Eos said, her voice sounding tinny and thin from the tablet’s small speakers.  “John has asked to tell you to check your messages.”

Penny laughed and waved her hand dismissively.  “Darling, rule one.  Men can always wait.”

“Here here,” Ridley cheered, toasting Penny with her champagne flute before downing half of it in a swallow.  It was refilled instantly.

Lady Penelope only got the very best that Paris had to offer.

Kayo had managed to get a small espresso, and she frowned into the blackness of her coffee.  “But what now? They, literally, got us where we live.”

Penny ran her finger around the rim of her champagne flute, listening to the low noise pure crystal made.  “Now, we eat some delicious food and perhaps have more of this delicious champagne, and then you will make better defenses and I will go digging.”  She let her fingers drop onto her lap, and the flute fell silent.  “And once I turn up some leads, we may even go fishing.”

Kayo leaned in.  “I always preferred hunting.  I was never very good at waiting.”

Across the table, Ridley leaned in toward’s Eos’ current screen.  “At what point,” she faux-whispered.  “Did our lives turn into a James Bond film?”

Penny laughed even as Kayo shook her head, amused.  “Never was a fan of Bond,” Penny said, picking up her menu.  “Far too much testosterone for my tastes.”

Conversation lulled as their orders were taken, the cloud of waiters moving in with careful choreography before they retreated once more.  Ridley studied her folded hands; there was still a smudge of engine grease on the back of her wrist that stood out in stark contrast against the crisp white linen of the table cloth. “They snatched an astronaut,” she said slowly, feeling her way around the thought that had been lurking at the edge of her brain.  “That’s something we need to keep an eye on.”

Penny was watching her carefully.  “I’ll keep you informed of our investigation,” she said, taking another sip of champagne.  “Besides,” she added, testing the waters.  “We may need a space agent from time to time.  That goes for you too, Eos.”

The ring of lights flashed a warm yellow.  “I would be happy to assist you with any tasks beyond your technical abilities.”

Ridley covered her mouth with her hand as Kayo rolled her eyes.  Penny licked her lips, trying to resist the urge to smile.  “Thank you, Eos.”  She looked right at the tablet’s camera.  “And in return I will teach you how to sass a human in a much more subtle way.”

Ridley lost the fight with her giggles.  She raised her champagne flute.  “A toast.  To shenanigans.”

Kayo nodded.  “Shenanigans.”

With an 8-bit fanfare, Eos’ ring of lights vanished from the screen to be replaced with an animation of a glass raised in a toast. Laughing, Kayo, Ridley and Penny leaned in, and three champagne flutes chimed in the air.


End file.
